Gallery: Santee Cooper Relocation Project

Benefits of the Santee-Cooper Project

Impacts of the Santee-Cooper Project

The Santee-Cooper Project provided hydroelectric power that supplied electricity to many rural areas of South Carolina for the first time. The project, which employed 16,000 workers during the Great Depression (12,500 of whom were taken from relief rolls in affected counties), created two lakes (Lake Marion and Lake Moultrie) and two smaller impound lakes (Buzzard Roost and Santee-Cooper). These waterways created recreational boating, fishing, camping and hunting opportunities, which led to the creation of Greenwood and Santee State Parks. The draining of swamps throughout the project area indirectly contributed to the eradication of malaria in five counties¹. Santee Cooper is now the primary source of power to all 46 counties in South Carolina, in partnership with 20 electrical cooperatives throughout the state².

The Santee-Cooper Project required the removal or relocation of entire communities, churches, schools and homes. The project relocated 901 families, most were African American. More than 6,000 graves in the affected area were relocated³. Where families were relocated, the state made efforts to move families to land of equal or greater value. Efforts were made to keep families and neighborhoods together in the move. Homes were relocated if possible. If a home was not worth saving, a new home was built. Each family was given 100 chickens as part of the move⁴. Despite these efforts, those who were relocated faced many hardships. Some families had to clear their new land by hand before it could be cultivated, and many families were reluctant to leave lands their ancestors had occupied for generations ⁵.

Photographer Jack Delano

In 1941, photographer Jack Delano documented some of the familes’ moves, on behalf of the Farm Security Administration. It is clear from Delano’s photographs, and the captions assigned to them (preserved in the rotating photo gallery below) that Delano was moved by the hardships these families faced during the relocation.

Clearing the Land

The project required the clearing of 177,000 acres of land. Land to be submerged under Lake Moultrie was thoroughly cleared. Plantations, graves and trees were relocated or removed. The area beneath Lake Marion was not cleared to this extent, and trees are still visible beneath the lake’s waters⁶.

Clearing the Land

Much of the land clearing was done with handsaws and mule-drawn wagons. The project became the largest land clearing project in United States history⁷.

Relocating Homes and Families

When possible, homes were relocated with families. Some families were living in homes that were deemed not worth saving, and new homes were built for these families. Relocation was difficult, often done with hand tools and mule carts.

Relocating Homes and Families

Some families were relocated to Orangeburg Farms at Orangeburg, SC, a farming community settlement project of the Farm Security Administration.

Relocating Homes and Families

Efforts were made to keep families and neighbors together, and to move families to land of equal or greater value. Each family relocated was provided with 100 chickens as part of the move.

Hardships

The move was difficult for families whose homes were relocated. The families depicted in these two photographs had to clear their own land before it could be cultivated.

Relocating Families

Over the course of the project, Santee Cooper acquired the title to 1,326 tracts of land and relocated 901 families, most of them African American⁸.

Relocating Families

Most of the families whose homes were relocated lived in Berkeley County, in the area now covered by Lake Moultrie. The land had been occupied and cultivated by generations of families, and many were reluctant to leave their ancestral homes.

Portraits

Photographer Jack Delano’s photographs are a visual record of the experiences of those whose homes were relocated. The collection includes portraits of some of the individuals and families affected by the relocation.

Planning Grave Relocations

Each cemetery lying within the affected area was advertised in local newspapers once a week for four weeks. The advertisements called for relatives of those buried within the affected cemeteries to provide the South Carolina Public Service authority with a signed written notice stating their wishes for disposition of the remains. If no such notice was received, the Authority had discretion to relocate remains or leave them undisturbed. Cemeteries in the area to be affected were usually relocated, unless a request was received to do otherwise. Cemeteries that would not be affected by construction were usually left undisturbed unless a request to relocate the burials was received. Approved wooden burial cases were used to relocate burials. Many of the cases were manufactured by the Carolina Lumber Company in Moncks Corner, SC.

Learning the Names

Once a cemetery was identified, efforts were made to learn the names of those interred there. Information on headstones was recorded, and investigators interviewed local residents to determine the names of those buried in unmarked graves within the cemetery. In the case of the Belvidere Plantation cemetery alone, investigators learned from local residents the names of 244 African Americans believed to be buried there. By following the procedures established for grave identification, investigators carried out one of the largest oral history projects undertaken in South Carolina’s history⁹.